Wahhabism

Wahhabism is a religious movement within Sunni Islam founded by the Nejdi scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab in the 17th century. It states that, in order to purify Islam, Muslims must return to the principles of the first three generations of Muslims from the time of Muhammad in the 7th century, and it therefore became an anti-modern movement by the time that it had gained popularity in the 20th and 21st centuries in the Middle East. Wahhabism and 1960s Middle Eastern political movements combined to form Salafism, and while Saudi Arabia advocates Wahhabism as its main school of thought, Salafism is endorsed by the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, and other Sunni Islamist extremist groups.